Avenues and Possibilities of Celluloid Justice: Critical Variations of Crime Film

• In Event: Intersections in Narrative and Visual Criminology: The Stories We Tell

Abstract

Despite the fact that a substantial and expanding body of research exists on how crimes and criminals are portrayed across a variety of contemporary platforms, including music lyrics, video games, comic books, television, film, and the Internet, few attempts have been made to outline the critical potential of such narratives. As such, this paper explores the critical potential of popular films that recount, channel, or relate to narratives of criminal justice and crime. The analysis draws upon cultural, narrative, and visual criminologies to decipher the meanings and messages conveyed through crime film narratives, themes, and visual elements to determine how crime, justice, and punishment are constructed throughout 3 contemporary crime films to asses if such constructions have critical potential or if they instead reinforce carceral logic – a paradigm which indicates that criminalization represents the most optimal paradigm for organizing human life and addressing social problems (Coyle and Nagel 2021). Findings indicate that to properly categorize a crime film as ‘critical,’ a more profound exploration is necessary—one that showcases the often-hidden world of the carceral system and explores the intricacies and truths of the lives affected by crimes, punishment, and injustice.

Author

• Madison R. Ross, University of Tennessee, Knoxville